Racism Watch - 6/18/12

Addidas Introduces Slave Shoe. A new shoe unveiled by Adidas last week has kicked off a chain reaction, as sneaker fans around the world slammed the company for creating a racist design. The shoes, dubbed the JS Roundhouse Mids, were featured in a June 14 post on the Adidas Originals Facebook page. The purple and orange sneakers come with a set of plastic “shackles” that strap around the ankles. "Got a sneaker game so hot you lock your kicks to your ankles?" the company asked in the Facebook post. In a statement to the Daily News on Monday, Adidas dismissed the criticism. "The design of the JS Roundhouse Mid is nothing more than the designer Jeremy Scott’s outrageous and unique take on fashion and has nothing to do with slavery," the company said. [MORE] 

Pro white, Christian identity' hate group registers to lobby in Washington, DC. Earlier this year, The American Nazi Party registered to become lobbyist in Washington and now they aren't alone. This past week, Crusaders For Yahweh-Aryan Nations LLC, filled out forms to become registered lobbyist. The group descries themselves as "pro white, Christian identity, white nationalism," who plan on lobbying under the platform of "political rights and ballot access laws." Speaking to The Hill, the head pastor of the group, Paul Mullet, says that the group plans to be politically active and that lobbying is just one part of their effort. The group has nearly 40 affiliates across the country and have plans to tackle political office in the local elections.[MORE] 

Montana Republicans Erect ‘Obama Outhouse’ At Montana GOP Convention. A shotgun, an outhouse, and a birth certificate stamped “bullshit” all made appearances at Montana’s GOP convention over the weekend. At Saturday’s convention in Missoula, Montana, a few convention-goers set up outside with an outhouse labeled “Obama’s Presidential Library.” But that wasn’t the most outrageous part. According to the Missoulian, the outhouse was also decorated in sexism, birtherism, and implicit threats: The outhouse was painted to look as though it had been riddled by bullets. Inside, a fake birth certificate for Barack Hussein Obama made reference to the disproven controversy over the president’s origins. It was stamped “Bull––.” A graffito advised “For a Good Time call 800-Michelle (crossed out), Hillary (crossed out) and Pelosi (circled in red.)” State GOP Chairman Will Deschamps of Missoula said he didn’t know who’d brought the outhouse, but dismissed it as “a sideshow.” [MORE] 

Mainstream Media Giving Voice to Anti-Immigrant Hate Groups. As anti-immigrant legislation has flooded state houses from coast to coast over the past two years -- culminating most notably with the Supreme Court's review of Arizona's controversial SB 1070 -- the nation's print media have given voice to the anti-immigrant special interest groups cheerleading (and in some cases orchestrating) these initiatives. Many of these groups have ties to white nationalist organizations and racists, and at least one has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. These extremist ties have not prevented the nation's most respected newspapers, as well as the Associated Press and Reuters, from citing the institutions as authorities on the immigration debate.

In fact, a Media Matters analysis of news coverage since SB 1070's introduction in January 2010 has discovered that the nation's top five newspapers (New York Times, L.A. Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post), the Associated Press, and Reuters have cited these groups over 250 times. [MORE] 

And Still More "Race War" Talk from Republicans. [MORE]